


Tea and Jade

by Nightelfbane



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Steampunk, Steamships, Tattoos, Tea, i want to tag the thing but it would spoil it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 05:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10892772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightelfbane/pseuds/Nightelfbane
Summary: Keryn Runa is a tattoo artist travelling on a steamship to the east to learn their methods of tattooing. She sits down with a cup of tea, waiting for something...





	Tea and Jade

**Author's Note:**

> Somewhat inspired by Bioshock Infinite.
> 
> I would appreciate any comments and feedback that you have!

            Keryn Runa stepped onto the deck, the wind fluttering her brown braid and blue dress. She took a deep breath of the cool air, walking past the sharply uniformed crew to the railing. Her storm-gray eyes took in the earth far below her, at the rice fields and the farmers who tended them. She raised her gaze to the horizon, her calm demeanor not betraying a sense of almost desperate hope as she scanned the clear blue skies. She stayed like that for a few minutes, hands on the railing, before sighing and turning away. Spying an area on the port side of the ship sectioned off for passengers who wished to dine outside, she started towards it.

            She sat at a small table (bolted to the deck), one closest to the railing. She laced her hands underneath her chin as she stared out at the horizon again, waiting patiently for a waiter.

            “May I take your order, miss?”

            Keryn looked up at the man in the uniform of the wait staff, holding a notepad in his hands as he anticipated her order. “Does the _Secret_ do much flying in the east?”

            “Yes we do, miss.”

            “Do you have any eastern teas?”

            The waiter nodded. “Plenty, miss.” He listed off a variety of exotic sounding blends, and she settled on Blueleaf tea. The waiter nodded and left to the kitchens and she returned to gazing at the horizon.

            Keryn’s tea arrived and she sipped it appreciatively. The clockworks and steam engines of the _Secret_ clanked and chugged pleasantly as she stared intently at the skies, still hoping to see it. They would reach the eastern cities early in the morning, and she did not want to leave before seeing the omen of the eastern skies.

            She sat there for hours, eventually getting her sketchbook out of her purse and drawing into the night. Two crescent moons hung in the starry sky, and she took to sketching designs for tattoos that incorporated them. Exotic designs were in high demand among the rich and powerful.

            Some time later, Keryn was bored of sketching and was once again scouring the horizons. The night sky was bright with stars and the twin crescents, but it wasn’t what she was looking for. Her sigh turned into a yawn as she pulled out her pocket watch and checked the time. 1 a.m. She sighed again as disappointment flooded through her. She needed to get to bed if she had any hope of making it through the following day. She stood and produced a few coins from her purse, leaving them on the table as she turned to go.

            She strode back across the deck towards the passenger’s quarters, eyes downcast and shoulders slumped, the skysailors in their black and gold uniforms politely stepping out of her way. She had her hand on the doorknob when a cry came from the other side of the ship.

            She whirled around, her braid flinging itself over her shoulder. Skysailors and the odd night owl passenger had flocked to the starboard side of the ship, near the stern. They were pointing and chattering excitedly as Keryn’s eyes lit upon the spectacle lighting up the night sky.

            She ran, in quite unladylike a fashion, towards the crowd, all semblance of propriety forgotten. She managed to get herself a good spot at the brass railing near the edge of the crowd. Her mouth fell open as she beheld the omen of the east.  

            Two serpent dragons, the color of jade, weaved their way through the night sky. Their scales were such a vibrant green that Keryn would later swear that they glowed. They twirled around one another as they approached the _Secret_ , calling to each other in deep, rumbling cries. They had no wings, flying instead through their own mystical power. The twin crescents and the star-strewn sky bathed them in silver light, causing their scales to glitter brilliantly.

            “My God,” said the elderly gentleman to her right. “It’s a mated pair.” She could only nod.

The dragons continued to dance around each other as they dipped in the sky and flew under the _Secret_. Keryn whirled again and raced towards the port side of the steamship, not wanting to miss a second of what she had been waiting for.

            The jade dragons emerged from the underside of the ship, whirling upwards in their dance. Keryn’s knuckles were white as she clenched the railing. The dragons soared upward, twin columns of scaled jade that rose above the _Secret_ ’s hydrogen balloon, seemingly close enough to touch. She watched as the last of their serpentine bodies disappeared over the balloon, and then turned and started to run back to the starboard side.

            She only got halfway there before one of the dragons curled _under_ the balloon, between it and the gondola. Keryn and the other spectators gasped and fell backwards as the enormous serpent raced across the ship, closer than ever, letting out gravelly breaths that sounded suspiciously like laughter. The other dragon flew over the balloon again to join its mate on the port side.

            And then they were gone, soaring off into the starry sky, twirling around each other and letting loose those deep, rumbling cries.

            Keryn did not consider herself a weak or unsteady woman. It took a calm heart and still hand to mark the skin of the upper crust. That night, however, she was unashamed to say that her hands trembled and she needed help getting back to her feet.

            She walked back to her quarters in a daze. Once inside her cabin, she suddenly felt exhausted. Her hands still trembled as she changed into her nightclothes and laid in her small bed.

            That night, she dreamed of shimmering jade ink in the shape of dragons, chasing each other across the canvas of her skin, forever dancing before the twin crescent moons.

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, comments. Artists love them. Even if they're just spelling or grammatical corrections.


End file.
